Gaza calls for reprimanding Arab journalists who visited Israel

International Arab journalists join an Israeli embassy tour of the Knesset

The Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza has called for journalist syndicates in the Arab world to “take clear disciplinary action” against those members who visited Israel.

In a statement yesterday, the GMO called for the syndicates to condemn the behaviour of the journalists, with Head of the GMO Salama Maarouf saying: “Visiting the Israeli occupation state by a number of Arab journalists and meeting Israeli officials [is] deemed a dangerous violation of the decision made by the Union of Arab Journalists, which has rejected media normalisation and criminalised it,” Quds Press reported. Maarouf added:

The issue is dangerous because the visit came at a time when the Israeli occupation is increasing its violations against Palestinian journalists, a few months after the decision of the Union of Arab Journalists to criminalise media normalisation.

Last week, a group of Arab journalists visited the Israeli Knesset and met Jewish MKs, as well as a number of other Israeli officials. The journalists – who work in France and Belgium but hail from Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco – asked questions regarding Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and its controversial Nation State law passed earlier this year.